Mark Walsh: No vote on Islandside could bring more traffic

Do Longboat Key residents want tourism units or residential units built within Islandside? 

Mark Walsh, vice president of Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties Ltd., says that’s up to the 6,340 registered voters of Longboat Key to decide.

The vision Ocean Properties has pitched to community associations around the Key calls for a redeveloped Longboat Key Club Islandside property with a 259-unit hotel, expanded meeting space with 10 to 12 meeting rooms and approximately 93 condominium/villa units that are 130 feet tall. 

But even if voters quash the request, development is coming to the parcel.

If the Key’s electorate votes down a May 12 mail-only ballot referendum next week that asks if Ocean Properties can convert 300 allowable units from residential to tourism, Walsh says that concept will change. Instead, residents could see a project that clogs Gulf of Mexico Drive more than the hotel project. 

“If you don’t vote for tourism, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to do residential,” Walsh said. “If you vote no, the reality is you very well likely will get some sort of residential project coming before the Longboat Key Town Commission at some point.”

Walsh says residential units will have more impact on daily traffic counts.

“If you’re living in a residential unit, you have one or two cars per unit that drive on Gulf of Mexico Drive several times a day going shopping and running errands,” Walsh said.  “If you’re a resort guest at my hotel, you’re being picked up at the airport by a shuttle or driving a rental car to the property and leaving it there until you leave.”

Walsh said the guests the new hotel will attract are business officials who will be onsite for the duration of their trips, attending corporate events outside and in restaurants on the property. 

“We don’t have our guests wake up...and get in their car and get out in traffic,” Walsh said. “We have guests take advantage of the amenities available to them in Islandside and Harbourside.”

With density for Islandside units already approved — the referendum would only change the use of those units — development of the property is probably inevitable.

“Voting no for tourism units isn’t stopping additional growth because there will be some growth there in the form of a residential project,” Walsh said. “This project as proposed, I believe, is a chance to provide a growth that’s a better fit for peak hour traffic issues. The project as proposed isn’t going to cause any noticeable traffic.”

In 2009, then Longboat Key Club owner Loeb Partners Realty, hired Richard Stiles of Grimail Crawford Inc. to conduct a traffic study for the Islandside renovation and expansion project it was pitching at the time. The project included a 196-room hotel. The study concluded that “at project build-out, you will only see one additional vehicle turning in and out of the club per minute.”

“This project ... is a chance to provide a growth that’s a better fit for peak hour traffic issues. The project as proposed isn’t going to cause any noticeable traffic.”

— Mark Walsh

A town-issued traffic study, though, disputed Grimail Crawford’s analysis and suggested the town would see more traffic that would decrease the level of service on Gulf of Mexico Drive. 

Islandside Property Owners Coalition President Bob White said traffic “is the elephant in the room.”

“Traffic is certainly a concern for everyone on the island,” White said. “One consultant will tell you residential traffic is worse and vice versa. We just don’t know.”

Planning, Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray, meanwhile, said that “generally, traffic industry studies tend to show residential uses having a higher trip generation rate than destination tourism uses.”

“This is typically due to the fact that resorts tend to provide many onsite amenities for guests, and vehicles are parked and infrequently used during the visit,” Ray said. “Many resorts also provide alternative transportation methods for groups, such as van-pooling to local attractions. Residential uses typically generate more individual vehicle trips per day for work, school, errands, and other daily needs.”

If the referendum passes, the town will require Ocean Properties to submit an application for the proposed project that includes a detailed, site-specific traffic analysis, adjusted for seasonal traffic fluctuation, as part of its application.